Month: October 2017

There were three teams shut out last week, four other teams failed to reach double-digit scoring and another team won with 12 points.
That set off the cry this week that the league stinks and there isn’t enough scoring. Wasn’t it just a year ago that we had all the complaining that there was too much scoring, that the league is set up for the offense?

The truth is the offensive play has been off because line play hasn’t been good, there aren’t enough good quarterbacks and there just isn’t enough time to practice anymore in pads.
The defensive players, meanwhile, are faster and more athletic.

The thing is, you don’t want to see the Seahawks (4-2) in the playoffs. And if the playoffs started today (they don’t — I double-checked), the Eagles could be lined up to host Seattle in the Divisional Round.

Any time a player explodes for a career-best game as Amari Cooper did last week, it’s wise to shop that player for potentially massive returns on the fantasy trade market. After struggling mightily for over a month with a total of 8.4 combined standard points in five games, Cooper dropped a 33-point outing against the Chiefs last Thursday, setting career highs in targets (19) and receiving yards (210) adding two touchdowns along the way. That game alone accounts for 61 percent of his season total in standard scoring, so clearly the man has reached his ceiling.

Cooper likely won’t have a game like that again this season, and some of his success can be attributed to the fact that it was an extremely favorable matchup against a vulnerable Kansas City pass defense. The Chiefs were already allowing the seventh-most yards per game to wideouts (176) and more touchdowns to receivers (10) heading into Week 7 than any other team in the NFL. It was a perfect storm for Cooper to post a peak fantasy performance that not many saw coming.

Howard hasn’t scored in three weeks now, so it’s a clear buy-low scenario. He has three favorable matchups over the next month, too. Howard faces a Saints defense that is one of just five in the league to allow 4.7 yards per carry or more to opposing running backs this year; a Packers defense that’s already surrendered eight total touchdowns to running backs (one of them being Howard in Week 4); and a Lions defense that was gashed by the Saints backfield in Week 6 for 237 yards and two touchdowns.

Look, I can’t even have a soda while watching a movie in the theater if it’s going to go longer than an hour-thirty. This dude never missed a play — not for a bathroom break, not after somebody stepped on his foot, not even to check his Twitter mentions. Nothing took him out of the game. Ever. He just kept playing for a team that — and I’m trying to be kind — sort of struggled.

Scouts project Goedert as a second-day pick in the draft (Rounds 2-3), possibly the first taken at his position. They see the speed, quickness and balance of a big-play threat, and size that will make him a mismatch for smaller defensive backs. Meanwhile, his blocking has developed enough to be placed in the asset category. Among his competition to be the draft?????????s top tight end are a pair of seniors in Penn State?????????s Mike Gesicki and Wisconsin?????????s Troy Fumagalli. Underclassmen who could further deepen the tight end field include Oklahoma?????????s Mark Andrews and South Carolina?????????s Hayden Hurst, if they choose to file for early entry into the draft.

The idea to trim Thursday Night Football from 18 games a season to only eight was first reported by Sports Business Journal and was part of a plan to reverse the ratings crash that also includes pulling games played in the U.K. back to 1 PM eastern time (6PM London time).